Small insurers, especially ones that do a lot of business in Florida, climbed. … Larger insurers also rallied. … Travel-related companies rose as investors felt their businesses won’t take such a big hit. –Associated Press via Chicago Tribune

The most immediate problem now: restoring electric power to millions of homes.

These figures from the Census Bureau cover the final year of Pres. Obama’s tenure.

Median household income rose to $59,039 in 2016, a 3.2 percent increase from the previous year and the second consecutive year of healthy gains, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The nation’s poverty rate fell to 12.7 percent, returning nearly to what it was in 2007 before a financial crisis and deep recession walloped workers in ways that were still felt years later. –Washington Post

Imran Awan, the Pakistani IT aide who worked closely with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, also used Dropbox to back up data, which is illegal for Congressional data.

Awan had access to all emails and office computer files of 45 members of Congress who are listed below. Fear among members that Awan could release embarrassing information if they cooperated with prosecutors could explain why the Democrats have refused to acknowledge the cybersecurity breach publicly or criticize the suspects. –Daily Caller

Comment: This scandal receives almost no coverage. That’s a scandal, too.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans would roll back one rule reducing methane emissions and another meant to ease the environmental impact of coal mining on streams. McCarthy argued the regulations limit the nation’s energy production, and said the GOP-controlled Congress will seek to invalidate the rules starting at month’s end. –Fox News

◆ Iraqi forces gaining in Mosul. That’s what the US commander there says, adding that forces are coordinating better and fighting more effectively. (Reuters via Yahoo News)

◆ Trump may shake up US intel agencies, and could leave the relatively-new post of Director of National Intelligence vacant.That’s what CBS News is reporting. The move could reflect Trump’s distrust of the agencies, concern about their politicization, and skepticism about their analysis, doubtless fueled by his incoming National Security Adviser, Gen. Flynn, himself an experienced hand in intelligence work.

Four people are in custody for allegedly being involved in the attack of a mentally disabled man broadcast on Facebook Live that included obscenities about Donald Trump, authorities said. –Chicago Tribune

◆”I’m more oppressed.” “No, I AM more oppressed.” Berkeley conference among victims groups turns into a nasty bidding contest about which one is more oppressed. Blacks wanted it all to be about their oppression. Muslims wanted it to be about their oppression. And so on. The conference breaks down in recriminations about which one is most oppressed. The article is here, at The College Fix.

⇒ Related Story: Hispanic student describes her mistake in telling other UCLA students that her family was “not here illegally.” Turns out you cannot use the word “illegal.” Jacqueline Alvarez in The Daily Bruin

⇒ Comment: IMO, the decline is partly due to a government of European-style social democrats, partly to an administration entirely composed of lawyers who have never run a two-car funeral. (Charles Lipson)

[Apple’s legal] filings highlight sharp disagreements between the EU commission on one side and Ireland and Apple on the other, presaging a years-long battle in the EU’s top courts that will determine the extent of the bloc’s powers to rein in alleged tax avoidance by multinational companies doing business in Europe. –WSJ

◆ I confess, I love it when live TV goes wrong. Here, our morning anchor shares her Christmas-time artichoke dip. Not a tasty treat, it turns out.

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♥ Hat Tip for helpful suggestions:
◆ Ed Vidal and Thomas Lifson for the Berkeley Olympics of oppression article.◆ Kate Hardiman for the article in the College Fix and the link to one in the Daily Bruin.

The items in [President-elect Trump’s] list range from things clearly within the president’s unilateral authority to those that will require a fair bit of cooperation from others.

For instance, rolling back federal regulations may be slow going because of legal requirements.

Repealing an existing regulation requires a rulemaking process of its own, subject to the Administrative Procedure Act — this can take months or years. The Supreme Court has held that a rule can’t be rescinded simply to reduce regulation; there has to be “a reasoned basis for the agency’s action.” . . .

More important, the issuance of regulations is often required by law — and the power to write those regulations is normally vested in a given department or agency, not in the White House. Presidents cannot unilaterally veto a regulation that an agency is determined to issue, or repeal one an agency is determined to keep. –Andrew Rudalevige in the Washington Post

The more traction Trump got, the weaker the grip traditional conservative ideology had on quite a few famous ideologues. [Goldberg is not apologizing.] It would be weird for me to apologize for telling the truth as I see it about Trump — and then continuing to do it.

But this Carrier decision shows that the damage will not be nearly so surgical. The rot is already setting in. … the White House is going to pick winners and losers, that it can be rolled, that industrial policy is back, that Trump cares more about seeming like a savior than sticking to clear and universal rules, and that there is now no major political party in America that rejects crony capitalism as a matter of principle. –Jonah Goldberg at NRO

Facebook does not intend to suppress the posts itself. Instead, it would offer the software to enable a third party — in this case, most likely a partner Chinese company — to monitor popular stories and topics that bubble up as users share them across the social network, the people said. Facebook’s partner would then have full control to decide whether those posts should show up in users’ feeds. –New York Times

LG OLED65B6P: CNET says the “LG B6 outperforms every other TV we’ve tested.” It’s the best I’ve ever seen as well. At a Black Friday week price of $2,796, the 65-inch is still expensive. If you have the money, it’s worth it. The 55-inch OLED55B6P, at a Black Friday price of about $1,800, is also tempting. –ZDNet